The Nigerian football governing body, NFF, has stated that if it eventually decided to take the Super Eagles qualifier outside the initially proposed venue at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna, it was not because of the threat from the Islamic terrorist sect, Boko Haram.

The Glass House had hurriedly dispatched a team of personnel from the Technical Department and committee to some stadiums in the country following the negative reactions from stakeholders over the federation’s proposed choice of Kaduna as venue for the game, despite the obvious insecurity in the State.

Reacting to the situation, the chairman Media Sub-committee of the federation, Chief Emeka Inyama, told SoccerStar at the Glass House that though the executive board would soon take final decision, other factors might come into play before settling for any of the inspected stadiums like Dan Anyiam in Owerri, UJ Esuene in Calabar and Lekan Salami in Ibadan.

Arguing that Boko Haram would never be a threat to the game of football, Chief Inyama, said it would be wrong to deny the fact that the Kaduna State Government had informed the Federation of the interest of the State to host the matches.

Asked to update Nigerians about the proposed venue for the qualifier matches, the chairman Niger National League (NNL) said: “When the federation is ready with the venue, it would be made public. There is no reason going on a rim of speculation because this is football.

“A couple of inspections has been carried out in some stadiums like Calabar, Owerri, Ibadan and of course, Kaduna in the north. The federation will meet and come out with the final decision. The venue is what will really help the game.

“It would be wrong to say that we are considering abandoning Kaduna for other stadium because of the threat of Boko Haram. However, what we cannot deny is that the governor of Kaduna State indicated interest to host the Super Eagles.

“Football cuts across all areas and it heals wounds. Football is a uniting game and as far as we are concerned, there is no Boko Haram in football. We were all witnesses to the friendly match against the Angola national team during the fuel subsidy crisis.

“We had massive and impressive turn out of spectators despite the state of insecurity in the country then. For the FA, we don’t think security is so much of a problem to influence the final venue for the qualifier encounters,” he noted.